Search Commands*

An introduction to search commands

Did you know you can search Google for web pages which were published in a certain timeframe? Did you know it often better to use Yahoo to work out your back links as you can exclude your own internal links?

In Yahoo it is possible to restrict your search to pages which have meta tags or which are in the Mediterranean (the coast, one assumes, rather than the sea). On Live search you can look for pages which contain RSS.

The Search Commands* home page shows summary search commands for: Google, Yahoo and Live Search. The rest of the site takes a deeper look at the nuances of common search commands and digs up some of the more obscure search engine commands too. Search Commands* is in beta.

Restrict a search so that some of the keywords must appear in the title

allintext:

Restrict a search so that all of the keywords must appear in the body text

allinurl:

Restrict a search so that all of the keywords must appear in the page address

inurl:

Restrict a search so that some keywords must appear in the page address

OR

List pages which have at least some of the keywords

+

Insist that the search engine includes a given keyword in the search results

-

Insist that the search engine omits pages which match a given keyword in the search results

~

Enhance a search to include synonyms for a given keyword

*

Include a wildcard match in your search results

[#]...[#]

Search a range of numbers as a keyword

daterange:

Restrict a search to any timeframe

""

Restrict a search so that the keywords must appear consecutively in a phrase

date:

Restrict a search to a recent timeframe

safesearch:

Restrict a search to exclude adult-content

filetype:

Restrict a search to a given type of file

More information about Google's search commands is available on the dedicated Google search commands page. In Google's page we look at how to use each commands, which search commands can be used together and which cannot.

More information about Yahoo's search commands is available on the dedicated Yahoo search commands page. In Yahoo's page we look at how to use each commands, which search commands can be used together and which cannot.

Insist that the search engine includes a given keyword in the search results

-

Insist that the search engine omits pages which match a given keyword in the search results

NOT

Insist that the search engine omits pages which match a given keyword in the search results

OR

List pages which have at least some of the keywords

|

List pages which have at least some of the keywords

""

Restrict a search so that the keywords must appear consecutively in a phrase

()

Group keywords together

More information about Live Search's search commands is available on the dedicated Live search commands page. In Live Search's page we look at how to use each commands, which search commands can be used together and which cannot.